September 2010

Fourthwall Books announces the publication of

Writing the City Into Being: Essays on Johannesburg 1998–2008

by Lindsay Bremner.

LAUNCH
Tuesday 21 September

TIME
4:30 for 5 pm

LOCATION
AZA 2010
Boekehuis Stand
The Potato Shed
Museum Africa

GUEST SPEAKER
Michael Sorkin

Lindsay Bremner will be on hand to sign books

FOURTHWALL books

http://www.fourthwallbooks.com

Pretoria - Tourism Minister, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, has urged South Africans to vote in the final round of the New 7 Wonders of Nature contest to ensure that Table Mountain makes it onto the final list of the seven natural wonders of the world.

Table Mountain is on a shortlist of 28 natural sites from around the globe competing to be named one of the official New7Wonders of Nature. The final seven wonders will be determined entirely by votes from the public, with the organisers aiming to attract more than 1 billion voters across the globe.

In an effort to support South Africa's entry in the contest, van Schalkwyk was the first person to use a new sms voting mechanism to vote for Table Mountain's campaign.

Van Schalkwyk said that following on from the massive success of the 2010 World Cup, South Africans can now focus on 2011 and a completely different contest.

"This is a race that aims to preserve the top seven wonders of nature for future generations and which gives South Africa the opportunity to be written into the history books for thousands of years to come," he said.

The AZA Pavilion is a live, full scale demonstration building on Mary Fitzgerald Square using a range of alternative building materials. The building demonstrates not only light-weight and fully insulated building materials (that can be handled by women), but also demonstrates an alternative approach to the design and construction methods of community-based, integrated housing models.

The Pavilion has been constructed on the Square in 12 days by 4 teams of women and yougsters from Thinasonke Informal Settlement (Alrode South), and will be dismantled after the AZA Event and re-erected as a community centre in Thinasonke. We are working in close collaboration with the Federation of the Urban Poor on this project.

Pretoria - Winterveldt informal settlement, north of Pretoria, will get a major facelift over the next six years that will see the neglected community transformed into a sustainable human settlement.

The provincial government plans to address the plight of more than 30 000 households in Winterveldt by delivering at least 32 107 subsidised housing units and approximately 2 200 finance-linked units for middle class families.

Immediate programmes include turning some extensions into formal townships installing services and building houses.

Clinics, schools, old age homes, trauma centres, multi-purpose centres, pension pay points and orphanages will also either be developed or upgraded in the township.

Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane and Housing MEC Kgaogelo Lekgoro were in Winterveldt on Thursday to detail the Gauteng Provincial Government's plans for the 68-year-old township.Addressing the thousands of Winterveldt residents, Mokonyane said the time had come for change.